The none exciting adventures of a busyish, works in Primary School and loves it, bog standard Mum, who fast ran out of her thirties...straight into her 40s which frankly so far...have been RUBBISH. She demands a refund.

Sunday, 27 July 2014

Having tea and toast with some gorgeous rhubarb and strawberry jam made by my new neighbours ( I met her mum yesterday - oh my stars, what a character! )
Feeling proud of myself for writing a guest post for someone eh less blog all about biscuits
Cleaning the kitchen
Setting the dishwasher off
Thinking about baking something good
Watching Eng v Scot bowling on Commenwealth Games
Seeing the daughter off to work ( poor studens! )
Doing some recycling ( that's actually my son's job - I am soo soft on that lad! )
Thinking about casting on for some knitting as I've not touched it in months
Reading and catching up with loads of blogs ( that's taken me a lovely hour and half or so )
Pottering about
Using all my lives on Candy Crush Saga ( level 432 - a great achievement I may add to my CV LOL )
Checking Facebook for interesting stories
Refreshing my Twitter TL
EEEEEEVEN cobbling this paltry blog post together!

But, the time has come and I cannot put it off any longer! The ironing needs to be done!
I am an expert at this procrastination art.

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

The other Saturday, a group of my twitter chums decided to embark on a teddy bear pancake off! The chums involved were the crime de la crime [sic] of my twitter list! Step forward and take a bow my TBF ( Twitter Best Friend ), officially the happiest girl in the world @Clareyh, @CazzPink, a self confessed slovenly housewife - a girl after my own heart. Last but by no means least, a group favourite , the menopausal nutter who goes by the name @minniemoo. For a few weeks now, we have been cackling over the tinternet's finest 'Nailed Its'.

Now if you go to Mr Google ( other search engines are available allegedly ) and type in Nailed It, or cake fail type words, you will be hit with a genuinely hilarious set of pictures and videos. I'll try and give you a few examples of our particular favourites.

Etc ... I'm having to stop now because I'm getting distracted and I'm laughing too much to type properly!! They are not all recipe related either!

For example this lady is making me reach for Clarey's famous Tenas!!

Anyway we all watched this >>>> Very funny video ( I see it in draft but not when published )

So naturally, I suggested we all have a pancake off! Minniemoo went first and set the bar VERY

high!

We were impressed !

There was rooting in cupboards ( me n CazzPink ). I have only ever used one of these once before!

Seriously illicit panic ordering from Amazon ( Clarey ) . We were ON! I went next. Pancake batter was BBC American style mix.

and away I went. It looked simple on the video! My first one looked a bit nothing like a

teddy, it was a 'if you squint you can make out some faint eyes and a mouth one' but as I pointed out,

the first pancakes you make generally are a bit shit!

Second and third were a tad more bearish,

but then I got far too into it. I was concentrating so hard ( picture the scene, slightly deranged short fat lady in apron, leaning over stove stop, tongue out, brows furrowed, beads of sweat on said brows, holding my breath, incredibly tense Masterchef final type tension in the kitchen ) I squeezed the frigging bottle too hard and the lid popped off and pancake batter exploded into the pan. I

may have said swearings. I snapshotted the scene, the bottle was burning and I created a phantom of the opera pancake bear.

My friends were incredibly* supportive.

*laughed and RTd my distress. Hmmmm. Bear number four resembled a bear most of all but he was made with the remnants of the batter and the pan was an bit too hot so he was very tanned and a bit lean.

CazzPink went next, hers were amazing! She shared her photos on twitter. We all tweeted 'encouraging' tweets!!

Then Miss Perfectionist Clarey came along and totally Nailed it! She toiled in sub tropical temperatures over her Aga in the Winnie the Pooh cottage she abides in, purely for our entertainment!

She then went a bit off task!

She says it's a rocket and two cupcakes !

Funny how my dear old twitter friend Nigel never responded! I think he was probably backing away very slowly at this point!

Admittedly, this post is a kind of 'you had to be there' kind of tale. But I for one had a really good time, a much needed laugh and a stack of pancakes covered in maple syrup to eat! Win!

Saturday, 5 July 2014

So far I have tackled the European Laundry Mountain that had taken over my bedroom. I can see strange blue stuff on the floor. I think it's carpet! Kitchen almost done. I've paper work to sort and my fingers are getting itchy for a new knit. I've left it alone for a while. But a friend has a baby girl so I might start a little cardigan or even try a wee summer dress! I'm gonna cast on later.

Firstly, I've to decide whether I'm keeping the 64 different sized Jiffy bags and padded envelopes I'm accrueing. I save them for when I sell things on eBay. I've yet to sell a single thing on eBay. I've yet to put a single thing on eBay. My dilemma is, the minute I dispose of these bags, I'll get the selling bug and will sell things on eBay! I'll just stash them awhile longer! I think I'm a classic hoarder - keeping things, just in case! But I'm gonna get at least one pile of paperwork sorted out.

It's a lovely sunny day again, after a downpour yesterday, so the back grass is approx 6ft tall. I don't have front grass, but my Nanna did and we were only allowed to play on the back grass when we went round. She also had the back kitchen. Again no front kitchen, just a back one. She had a pantry too. I want a pantry. I'm digressing. I'm gonna do a bit of gardening.

For the staffroom I made another batch of the ice cream cornet cakes, BUT, I mixed some freshly whipped double cream into my buttercream and added a few drops of raspberry essence. It tasted quite ice creamy! But I did have a few disasters. I should have said on my last blog that once decorated, these cakes are very top heavy. As I'd used fresh cream I needed to keep them in the fridge. Utter carnage as I tried to get them in the fridge. One by one they toppled over. Onto the floor, down my front, into the fridge, onto the tray. The air was blue. Everything else was white, creamy and covered in sprinkles. I was not smiley. I had to clean it all up and start again! I'm not gonna bake those cakes for a while!

The staff were appreciative! I also took in some toffee chocolate muffins and some ninja bread men. I need to work on my icing of these! They tasted nice though!

I'm gonna make something good later on.

Things I've also done this week are plan out and help create the backdrop for the school production of Joseph. I'm not the world's greatest artist at all and I'm certainly not the tidiest. I was covered in orange paint, looking like if had a really bad spray tan. Now. I'm thinking of that Friends episode where Ross gets tanned!

There are only nine more workdays left for the Summer. I'm gonna start looking at booking something for August in Scotland I think this year. My ancient 'do we have to come with you' children might stick me in a Shady Pines type establishment if I choose my favourite Wales again!

About Me

I am small,round,squishy and Northern. Quite frankly I cannot believe I'm in my 40s so soon.I can remember sitting in assembly at Junior School being asked the question I wonder what we'd be doing in the year 2000?I recall imaging it would NEVER get here.Gulp.It was over a decade ago.
I love to walk,tweet,knit,read,laze about,watch TV - all of it! cook,bake,garden,spend time with my kids & HG - Hunter Gatherer! We've been engaged for 23years-I'm never sure what to call him now-fiance implies we are to be married!I love Twitter and Blogland. I have extended medical knowledge from years of watching ER FROM THE BEGINNING{and I am still not sure I am over it finishing}.I LOVE my job.I hate all Sofa adverts with a passion - I believe that the DFS sale WILL NOT end when the world does. I love to comment on other people's blogs! A lot!

Welcome one and all. Pull up a chair by the fireside and join in the fun!

It's MY blog and I'll write what I want to, write what I want to, write what I want to - you would write too if it happened to youuuuu!

* PLEASE NOTE the names I use in my stories about mywork are FALSE names. This isto protect the identity of my inspirations.The stories, however are ALL true.*

I love to get feedback and comments and read YOUR experiences linked to my posts! I don't employ the evil that is Capitcha - although of course I do look at them before they are published. Owt nasty won't get in.

If you don't like what you are reading -tough! I would ask that you simply DON'T READ IT.

Here's Harry's Page CLICK THE PHOTO TO ACCESS THE LINK

Harry is my youngest nephew. ( I have six altogether out of ten nieces and nephews ) and not only is he super special because I was the midwife as his birth, but he is super special because even though he is fighting cancer of the eyes - BILATERAL RETINOLBLASTOMA, he is doing it with a huge smile. I l ove him so much, he is squishy, snuggy, adorable and gurgly! Please have a read, donate if you can and SHARE it around xx THANK YOU